Vegan Bullshit Alert

Dear Readerz,

Out of civic duty — and not mean spirits — we feel compelled to respectfully call out one of the leading vegan fast food joints in the L.A. area for a sad case of misrepresentation. Orean Health Express, often hailed as the Eastside mecca of realistic meat-like drive through cuisine, is fronting, hardcore.

First, full disclosure: Hot Knives is not a strictly vegan blog, nor have we ever postured ourselves as such. Occasionally we offer vegetarian recipes that hinge on questionable ingredients like cage-free eggs, French cheese and honey (which we’d still love to open up to a discussion about vegan ethics if anyone’s down for helping us hammer out a stance on the subject of said gooey nectar). We prefer to focus on vegan food, because of the challenge posed and the golden politics behind such a diet. We know how much a clean palate and strict diet regiment means to many of our readers. And we think there’s something rotten about false advertising — in this case, posing as a vegan establishment and then serving unsuspecting diners egg and dairy products. It’s not a cardinal sin, per se, we won’t rule out eating there, but it’s certainly worth alerting others who may feel differently…

Since first feasting on the fruits of Orean more than six years ago, we’ve long extolled the North Pasadena fast food stand as being the pinnacle of imitating the vein-clogging American pastime. The fake meats are juicy yet the clover sprouts are bountiful. The cheese melts, and has long been rumored to contain the offending casein. Still, we included them in a “top ten” vegan dish shout-out earlier this year and have used them as inspiration in vegan fast food exploits. A sign posted at the restaurant and on their website, claims to contain “no egg or milk” and to use “non-dairy cheese.” However, recently it came to our attention that many of the products they serve are Morning Star Farms brand, and thereby not only far from healthy, but completely non-vegan.

After repeated requests for what kind of hot dog they serve (they’re scary good) one employee finally spilled the beans to us. So if you eat strictly vegan, we advise you steer clear of Orean Health Express, or better yet ask them to come clean to their customer or else buy products from Yves or other vegan-friendly companies. For any company that makes much of its profit off of vegans, its unacceptable to lie about the ingredients used. That’s our take anyway.